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Thursday, June 9, 2011

School is Out!

Today marks the last day of school for my kids. I am torn about how I feel about this. I would love my kids being out of school if they didn't drive me so crazy with all the unrealistic expectations of summer. Nico feels that everyday should be a party and that I LOVE having 20 kids over and that hanging out should last until midnight every night. Tommy wakes up every day and asks "Can we go to Great America today?" Isabella is the queen of, "I'm bored." In a perfect summer there would be children that wake up around 9 or 10, help me around the house, play for a couple of hours (with not too much inconvenience on my part or the part of their friends' mothers), some work in their summer workbooks so they don't lose all they learned and in bed by the latest 10 so that I get some down time at a decent hour. I laugh even as I write this. The reality is that for some odd reason, my kids jump out of bed ready to go at 7:00am, there is complaining at the slightest request of help, just playing doesn't satisfy them, the summer workbooks remain blank because I am too tired to fight that battle and I like not having to help them with it and since we will be running around to baseball games until the end of July, bedtime will be after our 9pm dinner. Then as soon as that is over, football will start and it will be the same thing.

There is a subject that comes up around this time that has many people split. Should the kids be in school all year? I have several opinions on this. I am pretty vocal about not liking the pressure that teachers are under to cover all of the standards they need to. I think that higher-ups forget what kids are developmentally ready for and I think the fall-out from that is too much homework, overwhelmed teachers and overwhelmed kids. Would being in school year round help with that? On the other hand, I think that kids need a break. I do like having three months to not think about homework and projects and grades. By this time of year, I admit, I, myself have checked out. I just want to be done so I'm not sure year round would be good for my kids. I might not be the best person to talk about this, though. I am still not that thrilled with Nico's school and I know I couldn't handle three more months without a break. The icing on the cake of this year was that they put his name in the yearbook as "Nick Gubenko. Not Nicholas, which I would understand since that is his birth name but Nick. First, they tell him I don't know how long he has to live and then they don't answer emails. The least they could do is get his name right in the yearbook.

Now, if we had to send them (meaning it was required and not a summer school program that was optional) for a few hours and there was no homework, sign all of my kids up and could we find somewhere for Gia to go to maybe get a jump start on her alphabet and numbers?

2 Comments:

At June 10, 2011 at 12:00 AM , Blogger Christine Voth said...

We pretty much have 'year-around' school here in Cambridge. The kids get 6 weeks off in the summer, four weeks at Christmas and three at Easter. They aren't in school any more days a year than kids in the US, just more breaks between terms (oh...they also get a week off at half-term, so half-way through the term, they get a week off). I don't know which is harder for a working parent, however...trying to cover childcare at six different times during the year, or for three months in the summer. I will miss our long holidays back to the US tho...six weeks will fly by!!!

 
At June 10, 2011 at 8:21 AM , Blogger AnnMarie said...

I really like the way that sounds, Christine! Though maybe it's because I don't work outside the house.

 

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